Mohamed Diame set for Arsenal audition as West Ham row brews

Mohamed Diame is out to impress his prospective new employers tonight at the Emirates Stadium amid a brewing row over what he views as the Hammers’ unfair attempts to keep him at Upton Park.

Another commanding showing in tonight’s Premier League trip to Arsenal could hasten a transfer-window move to north London as Gunners boss Arsene Wenger looks to add some much-needed steel to his flair-heavy midfield.

But West Ham are keen to hang on to the former Wigan player, and have offered him a new contract on improved terms but minus the £3.5million buy-out clause that his current deal stipulates.

Diame has so far refused to sign and has threatened to report the Boleyn club to Fifa if, as he fears, they ignore the clause if the Gunners come knocking.

The Senegal international’s concerns that West Ham were prepared to use spoiling tactics to ward off potential suitors were first raised in December when the club claimed he would be out for three months with a hamstring injury. However, he returned to first-team action after just a month out.